Class Description- This is a 9th grade English class with 50 minute periods. There are 26 students in the class. There are 15 males and 11 females. The students are fairly diverse, reflecting African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Caucasian backgrounds. Three students have an IEP and are fully included into their curriculum. Desks are arranged to support cooperative learning activities and to facilitate group instruction/ discussion. Students work best with multiple means of instruction: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and group activities. I strive to utilize Gardner’s multiple intelligences into my lesson planning.
Unit Title
Social Injustice and Discrimination in Literature
Lesson Topic
The Significance of our Protagonists’ Culture
Type of Lesson
Developmental
Core Learning Goal/Curriculum Standard 1.2.1 NCTE 9
Lesson Objective(s): Objective 1 – Given an evaluation form, students will be able to evaluate their individual group members’ performance on the research assignment and presentation.
Objective 2 – Given The Scarlet Letter and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, students will be able to complete a Venn diagram to compare/contrast the protagonists’ culture and portrayal in the novels.
Assessment(s): Assessment for Objective 1 – Evaluation Form
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Formative Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Traditional Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning? The evaluation form is a great activity for students to reflect on their group performance during their research activity and presentation. If there were any discrepancies on individual performance, the evaluation sheets could be used to measure students’ performance. The evaluation assesses students’ ability to suggest improvements on their collaborative work and to provide constructive criticism for improvement.
Assessment of Objective 2 – Venn Diagram
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Summative Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Performance Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning? This assessment is a Venn Diagram which will be used for students to organize the similarities and differences of the protagonists’ culture. We will have guided practice with this Venn Diagram in class, but students will complete the other half as independent practice. I’ll assess students’ ability to compare/contrast information about the characters with textual evidence and their ability to stay focused and follow directions on the activity. This chart is a summative assessment because students will be using this for their final paper at the end of the unit. This resource will help to organize their thoughts on the topic.
Materials Needed for Lesson
Computer
Overhead Projector
PowerPoint (with instructions)
Timer
Discrimination Mind Map
Culture Mind Map
Student Groups
Dictionary The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter Chapter Summary The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian summary
Venn Diagram
Evaluation Sheets
Lesson Development
Teacher Drill/Motivational Activity- As students walk into the classroom, they’ll see that I’ve posted their Arthur and Hester illustrations throughout the classroom. I’ll give students the opportunity to walk around the room for 3 minutes (set timer) to notice any similarities and differences between their classmates portrayals of the characters. Transition- “Before we dig into this material, I want to take 4 minutes to complete a quick evaluation on your groups’ performance.” I’ll be passing out the evaluation sheet and reading the directions (which are also on the sheet). Activity 1- Students will take 4 minutes to complete an evaluation on their individual group members’ performance during their research and presentation. This will be folded in half and passed to me. Key Questions Did all of my group members contribute to the project? Did all of us spend an equal amount of time on this assignment? Transition-“Now that we’ve got that finished, let’s get back into our reading materials for this unit. Please take out your copy of The Scarlet Letter.
Students
Students will walk around the room to view the illustrations.
Students will complete an evaluation on their group.
Time
3 minutes
4 minutes
Teacher (cont’d)
Activity 2 – Before we begin the next activity, I’ll be reviewing pertinent information about The Scarlet Letter and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I’ll read a quick summary of the first four chapters we read in The Scarlet Letter as well as a quick summary about the first chapter of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to refresh their memories. “When you walked around the classroom, you noticed that all of your drawings were very different. However, they all captured the individuality of our protagonists.” I’ll pass out a copy of a “Venn Diagram” to all students. I’ll also have a copy on the overhead projector. As a class, we’ll start to define our protagonists’ culture and their portrayal in the novels. We’ll reference to the text for support. I start by modeling the responses, move to guided practice, and then I’ll give students a minute or two with independent practice before I’ll collect their Venn Diagrams for review. Key Questions
What are the similarities and differences between Hester and Arthur?
How have these characters been treated in our readings?
Transition-“Now that we’ve outlined the similarities and differences between our protagonists, let’s take a close look into the types of discrimination they both face.”
Activity 3 –We’ll begin this activity by discussing some of the important events that occurred in last night’s reading of The Scarlet Letter. I’ll prompt students to provide specific details about others’ perceptions of Hester and her daughter Pearl. We’ll also discuss why the Governor would like to take Pearl away. After a thorough discussion of key points in the chapter, I’ll hand out another passage from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We’ll read the chapter as a class, having students’ volunteer to read a paragraph or two. After reading, we’ll quickly discuss the type of discrimination that Arthur is listening to from his teacher. I’ll probe students into thinking about the cause of this form of discrimination. We’ll particularly focus on the teachers’ portrayal of Native Americans on the reservation.
Afterward, students will complete a 8-10 minute writing activity. Students will be given the following question to respond to: “Having just read and discussed our protagonists’ culture and the way in which they’re portrayed through other characters, I want you to write about how their cultures may attract discrimination toward them. This is a free write; we will use this activity tomorrow to develop your content and grammar. But for now, just write without worry.”
Key Questions
Why does the governor want to take Pearl away?
What form of discrimination is depicted in the excerpt we read loud?
How does the protagonists’ culture influence their discrimination?
Summary/Closure/Revisit Objective- As a closure activity, I will ask students to share one or two ideas from their free write about how the protagonists’ culture may attract discrimination. We will share and discuss for 3 minutes.
Safety Valve-
As a safety valve to this activity, I could’ve first given students the evaluation form to complete at home. However, I didn’t originally do this because I wanted to give students enough time to reflect on their performance with their group. For the Venn Diagram activity, I could used guided practice throughout the activity. I also could’ve had students write at the conclusion of this diagram. If the aforementioned activity was unsuccessful, I would also have students complete a Venn Diagram on the setting of each novel.
Students (cont’d)
Students will listen to the reviews before working on the Venn Diagram as a class.
Students will participate in the discussion to prepare for an independent reading activity.
Students will share their responses from the free write.
Time (cont’d)
13 minutes
27 minutes
3 minutes
Differentiation- To begin the class, all of the objectives are posted on the board so the students and the teacher know their expectations on the lesson. All of the instructions for activities are also posted on the board (or PowerPoint). On physical handouts for activities, students are given a clear format to follow, as well as the instructions posted on the top of the paper. For differentiation, I started this lesson by giving students the opportunity to self-reflect on their performance in their research and presentation. This would give students the chance to express any concerns about a group members’ performance in the class. It is also another form of assessment for me to measure students’ performance upon. The results will be kept anonymous. As for the second activity, the Venn Diagram, I go back into the novel to find textual evidence of the protagonist’s culture portrayed in the novels. I started with direct instruction in completing this activity. I gradually move into guided practice, assuring that all students are aware of the assignment. Lastly, I move to independent practice. This transition helps all learners to develop independence in the activity. I majority of this lesson is based on discussion; however, I’ve included specific activities to appeal to a student who has trouble verbally expressing their ideas. For example, students have the opportunity to participate in a free-write activity. In this activity, students will utilize discussion points to make connections into the novel based on prior lessons. For struggling readers, I reread a summary of the material. This welcomes the philosophy of Universal Design for Learning because it is an accommodation that assists students who have disabilities but also helps ALL students to perform better in the classroom.
Reflection on assessment –
If the aforementioned lesson is unsuccessful, I will facilitate my instruction more directly throughout the activities. This lesson is primarily based on discussion. Therefore, it primarily appeals to students with auditory strengths. For re-teaching, I will use more visual and kinesthetic activities to better engage all other students in the class. I’ve found some great graphic novels for The Scarlet Letter. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian also has some great visual aids. I will be using both of these in the upcoming lessons. I’ll be able to use these visuals to help students describe the protagonists’ culture in the novels. I’ll develop these thoughts by still using the Venn Diagram. Either way, the Venn Diagram is a great resource to organize students’ thoughts and ideas about the characters. This source of facilitation will be sure to assist struggling learners to gain the information needed from this lesson.
Social Injustice and Discrimination in Literature
The Significance of our Protagonists’ Culture
Developmental
1.2.1
NCTE 9
Objective 1 – Given an evaluation form, students will be able to evaluate their individual group members’ performance on the research assignment and presentation.
Objective 2 – Given The Scarlet Letter and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, students will be able to complete a Venn diagram to compare/contrast the protagonists’ culture and portrayal in the novels.
Assessment for Objective 1 – Evaluation Form
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Formative
Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Traditional
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning? The evaluation form is a great activity for students to reflect on their group performance during their research activity and presentation. If there were any discrepancies on individual performance, the evaluation sheets could be used to measure students’ performance. The evaluation assesses students’ ability to suggest improvements on their collaborative work and to provide constructive criticism for improvement.
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Summative
Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Performance
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning? This assessment is a Venn Diagram which will be used for students to organize the similarities and differences of the protagonists’ culture. We will have guided practice with this Venn Diagram in class, but students will complete the other half as independent practice. I’ll assess students’ ability to compare/contrast information about the characters with textual evidence and their ability to stay focused and follow directions on the activity. This chart is a summative assessment because students will be using this for their final paper at the end of the unit. This resource will help to organize their thoughts on the topic.
Computer
Overhead Projector
PowerPoint (with instructions)
Timer
Discrimination Mind Map
Culture Mind Map
Student Groups
Dictionary
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter Chapter Summary
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian summary
Venn Diagram
Evaluation Sheets
Drill/Motivational Activity- As students walk into the classroom, they’ll see that I’ve posted their Arthur and Hester illustrations throughout the classroom. I’ll give students the opportunity to walk around the room for 3 minutes (set timer) to notice any similarities and differences between their classmates portrayals of the characters.
Transition- “Before we dig into this material, I want to take 4 minutes to complete a quick evaluation on your groups’ performance.” I’ll be passing out the evaluation sheet and reading the directions (which are also on the sheet).
Activity 1- Students will take 4 minutes to complete an evaluation on their individual group members’ performance during their research and presentation. This will be folded in half and passed to me.
Key Questions
Did all of my group members contribute to the project?
Did all of us spend an equal amount of time on this assignment?
Transition-“Now that we’ve got that finished, let’s get back into our reading materials for this unit. Please take out your copy of The Scarlet Letter.
Students will walk around the room to view the illustrations.
Students will complete an evaluation on their group.
3 minutes
4 minutes
Activity 2 – Before we begin the next activity, I’ll be reviewing pertinent information about The Scarlet Letter and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I’ll read a quick summary of the first four chapters we read in The Scarlet Letter as well as a quick summary about the first chapter of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to refresh their memories. “When you walked around the classroom, you noticed that all of your drawings were very different. However, they all captured the individuality of our protagonists.” I’ll pass out a copy of a “Venn Diagram” to all students. I’ll also have a copy on the overhead projector. As a class, we’ll start to define our protagonists’ culture and their portrayal in the novels. We’ll reference to the text for support. I start by modeling the responses, move to guided practice, and then I’ll give students a minute or two with independent practice before I’ll collect their Venn Diagrams for review.
Key Questions
What are the similarities and differences between Hester and Arthur?
How have these characters been treated in our readings?
Transition-“Now that we’ve outlined the similarities and differences between our protagonists, let’s take a close look into the types of discrimination they both face.”
Activity 3 –We’ll begin this activity by discussing some of the important events that occurred in last night’s reading of The Scarlet Letter. I’ll prompt students to provide specific details about others’ perceptions of Hester and her daughter Pearl. We’ll also discuss why the Governor would like to take Pearl away. After a thorough discussion of key points in the chapter, I’ll hand out another passage from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We’ll read the chapter as a class, having students’ volunteer to read a paragraph or two. After reading, we’ll quickly discuss the type of discrimination that Arthur is listening to from his teacher. I’ll probe students into thinking about the cause of this form of discrimination. We’ll particularly focus on the teachers’ portrayal of Native Americans on the reservation.
Afterward, students will complete a 8-10 minute writing activity. Students will be given the following question to respond to: “Having just read and discussed our protagonists’ culture and the way in which they’re portrayed through other characters, I want you to write about how their cultures may attract discrimination toward them. This is a free write; we will use this activity tomorrow to develop your content and grammar. But for now, just write without worry.”
Key Questions
Why does the governor want to take Pearl away?
What form of discrimination is depicted in the excerpt we read loud?
How does the protagonists’ culture influence their discrimination?
Summary/Closure/Revisit
Objective- As a closure activity, I will ask students to share one or two ideas from their free write about how the protagonists’ culture may attract discrimination. We will share and discuss for 3 minutes.
Safety Valve-
As a safety valve to this activity, I could’ve first given students the evaluation form to complete at home. However, I didn’t originally do this because I wanted to give students enough time to reflect on their performance with their group. For the Venn Diagram activity, I could used guided practice throughout the activity. I also could’ve had students write at the conclusion of this diagram. If the aforementioned activity was unsuccessful, I would also have students complete a Venn Diagram on the setting of each novel.
Students will listen to the reviews before working on the Venn Diagram as a class.
Students will participate in the discussion to prepare for an independent reading activity.
Students will share their responses from the free write.
13 minutes
27 minutes
3 minutes
To begin the class, all of the objectives are posted on the board so the students and the teacher know their expectations on the lesson. All of the instructions for activities are also posted on the board (or PowerPoint). On physical handouts for activities, students are given a clear format to follow, as well as the instructions posted on the top of the paper.
For differentiation, I started this lesson by giving students the opportunity to self-reflect on their performance in their research and presentation. This would give students the chance to express any concerns about a group members’ performance in the class. It is also another form of assessment for me to measure students’ performance upon. The results will be kept anonymous. As for the second activity, the Venn Diagram, I go back into the novel to find textual evidence of the protagonist’s culture portrayed in the novels. I started with direct instruction in completing this activity. I gradually move into guided practice, assuring that all students are aware of the assignment. Lastly, I move to independent practice. This transition helps all learners to develop independence in the activity. I majority of this lesson is based on discussion; however, I’ve included specific activities to appeal to a student who has trouble verbally expressing their ideas. For example, students have the opportunity to participate in a free-write activity. In this activity, students will utilize discussion points to make connections into the novel based on prior lessons. For struggling readers, I reread a summary of the material. This welcomes the philosophy of Universal Design for Learning because it is an accommodation that assists students who have disabilities but also helps ALL students to perform better in the classroom.
Reflection on assessment –
If the aforementioned lesson is unsuccessful, I will facilitate my instruction more directly throughout the activities. This lesson is primarily based on discussion. Therefore, it primarily appeals to students with auditory strengths. For re-teaching, I will use more visual and kinesthetic activities to better engage all other students in the class. I’ve found some great graphic novels for The Scarlet Letter. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian also has some great visual aids. I will be using both of these in the upcoming lessons. I’ll be able to use these visuals to help students describe the protagonists’ culture in the novels. I’ll develop these thoughts by still using the Venn Diagram. Either way, the Venn Diagram is a great resource to organize students’ thoughts and ideas about the characters. This source of facilitation will be sure to assist struggling learners to gain the information needed from this lesson.